I started my nurse training in 2004. My granddad suffered from dementia and my grandma used to be a psychiatric nurse, so this just seemed a natural route. During my training I quickly realised that my area of interest was within caring for Older Adults and when I qualified in 2007 I went straight to working within Older Adult Dementia Care.

I have been with my current team since 2008 which probably shows that I love my job. I love the patient group we work with, the service we provide them with, the education we offer to promote living well with dementia and helping them to see that there is still life beyond that diagnosis. I am passionate about moving the team and service we provide forwards, developing new ways of offering interventions and ensuring that patient care is the centre point around everything we are doing.

During my time with this service I have had several roles including Nurse Assessor, Deputy Manager, Non-Medical prescriber/Clinical Nurse Specialist and now my current role as tACP. As a Nurse Assessor I was there to provide the assessment, support, education and advice needed by the patients. As my roles have changes I have been involved in service development, ensuring staff are confident and competent in the roles they are carrying out, ensured patients received timely review and prescribing of their cognitive enhance medication rather than wait for a medic appointment which were in short supply and now my role encompasses all this and more. I’m hopeful that my role will provide the service with a link between the team of support workers and assessors and medics to help bridge the knowledge and experience gap.

Amy Whiteley, Trainee Advanced Clinical Practitioner
Sheffield Memory Service

As a young woman, returning from travelling, I found myself working as a ‘temp’ at the Drug and Alcohol service in Rotherham, with aspirations of becoming a Primary School teacher.

The value the service had on people’s health and their families wellbeing was inspiring and soon enough, when it came to the UCAS application time, there was only one option for me. Mental health nursing!

Shortly after starting my degree, sadly my sister become unwell with psychosis and as a family we experienced the dedication, care and commitment which was need to help her recovery. The impact the nursing team had on my sisters journey was HEROIC! I knew I’d made the right choice for my career and aspired to be just like the nurses who so passionately cared my sister back to good health.

I enjoy every aspect of my job. Working to help improve people’s quality of life is such a rewarding thing. I love supporting a person on a journey to become who they want to be. Often people are met with mental health issues without warning and we have a duty to help bridge the gap between who they used to be and who they are now. The best part of my job is when I know someone is reaching their goals and bridging them gaps. This can sometimes be in a times of crisis or longer term.

I hope I make a difference by supporting people and their family in the toughest times of their lives. I have been given the opportunity to work with third party services in Sheffield to bridge the gap between secondary mental health service and Sheffield’s amazing community services. This service supports people to bridge social, occupational and wellbeing gaps, giving people purpose and occupation which inspires hope and unlocks the potential in people within our service. By offering a truly holistic approach by ensuring people are given the right tools in the right places helps promote long term health. This is what I love to do! Nearly 15 years on from changing my path to mental health, I have NEVER looked back and look forward to what the next 15 years will bring.

Mary Short, Voluntary Care Support Senior Practitioner
Single Point of Access and Emotional Wellbeing Service

I thought the nurses were amazing. I also fancied the smart uniform! I have met so many wonderful nurses throughout my career. I’m very proud to be a nurse and part of this tribe. I really enjoy working with the Long Term Neurological Conditions (LTNC) team at SHSC. We are a small and friendly team striving for the best possible outcomes, support, and care for our service users.

I support people have complex neurological diseases. I also help to support service users with traumatic and acquired brain injuries. I love the variety the role brings. Our team are very compassionate and kind to each other, as well as our service users. Staff wellbeing is top priority. I think I make a difference by providing a familiar link between hospital and community services. I also have an active role working along side the therapy teams within LTNC. The case managers hold individual caseloads.

I enjoy getting to know my service users and making sure they access the right support to help them live well with a Neurological condition, make choices for the future, and receive palliative support when they need it. Kindness and a listening ear can make such a difference. No one should feel alone.

Kerry Griffin, Neuro Case Manager
Long-Term Neurological Conditions

I got a job as a support worker on Edgedale Ward (an assessment ward for people with dementia) and I absolutely loved it! I loved the variety, I loved working with the patients, and I worked with a great team. I met so many compassionate and inspiring nurses and they encouraged me to complete my nurse training.

Since qualifying, I’ve had the opportunity to work in diverse areas including adult acute, substance misuse, dementia, and intermediate care. I have really enjoyed all my roles and I have learnt something different in each one, but if I’m honest, my heart has always been in older adult and dementia care.

I have been at Woodland View in my role as Clinical Manager for about six months now. I love that every day is different and I never know what the day will bring. I feel really privileged to work with such a skilled, caring and dedicated team - I think teamwork is key in nursing.

If I’m having a stressful day, I really enjoy taking some time to go and see our residents. Chatting and hearing stories about their life or seeing them having a sing song with staff never fails to make me go home with a smile!

Becky Barber, Clinical Manager
Woodland View

As a mental health student nurse, I was directly involved in helping some of the most vulnerable individuals to improve their wellbeing and recovery from complex mental health problems, which is very important part of our role.

I enjoy thinking as to where my job will take me in the future, and how I may improve myself so that I can not only provide quality care to the patients who are directly under my care, but also influence things for patients in the future.

By studying mental health nursing I've learned a lot about mental health treatment and the framework in place to manage emergencies and provide support.

What makes nurses different is the ability to set up and preserve good relationships with others, the ability to control and manage the uncertainty. My interpersonal skills allow me to be a good listener and recognise in which the affected person is coming from.

Sabina Adu, Student Nurse
Birch Avenue

It has always felt to be a great privilege being allowed to be part of a persons life especially at time of difficulty and this is something that should never be taken lightly. To me being a nurse isn’t about knowing all the answers, or taking control, its about understanding, empathy and guidance at time of need. It is helping the person to reach their best health in their current situation.

I’ve always had a passion for working with older people and have done this in various areas throughout my career: from giving hands on care in a busy assessment ward, group work, and community crisis work to helping develop teams and interventions delivered. To see any positive change in someone’s health, situation and life is extremely rewarding as is seeing students and new nurses growing and developing in their role. I love working with such a motivated and talented group of people who all strive to give the best service to the people of Sheffield and feel proud to be part of the team.

Throughout my career I have continued to learn and develop from those around me and hope that I too may have influenced others.

Rachel Noble, Joint Team Manager
Older Adults Home Treatment Team 

I enjoy making a difference to people’s lives every day by influencing quality and practice in nursing.

I think I always have time to speak to people and learn where we can make changes to nursing going forward.

I work hard to make sure that standards are upheld and always go by the phrase “the standard you walk past is the standard you accept”.

Despite being told I was not clever enough to become a nurse by my career’s teacher in secondary school, I begun my journey as a temporary nursing assistant. I was not going to let that advice stop me from helping others.

Despite the challenges that existed and came my way, I continued and developed from being nursing assistant and become a qualified nurse without ever leaving this organisation. I believe this is an empowering message to others who may have similar backgrounds to inspire them to never let go of their dreams.

I am proud of my journey and I am proud that I am making a difference to other people's lives whether that be a service user, colleague or friend. My values are 24/7 and not just 9 to 5. 

I enjoy the clinical work and seeing patients, I feel I get job satisfaction from my work and that I am truly am making a difference to others. I also enjoy seeing my colleagues and feel I have a lot of support.

I feel that I am in a privileged position in the perinatal mental health team to support women and families through one of the most important and life changing experiences of their lives. It can make all the difference in the world to have someone in your corner during these times and supporting you.

What brought me in to mental health nursing was that I was, and still am, very curious about human experiences, and I wanted to help people who struggle with their mental health.

I’ve always admired the bravery with which the people who use our services trust us with their darkest days. It still blows me away. This work is a privilege.

I work with a great team and our work is incredibly meaningful to us. Helping families to get off to a better start – what’s more important than that?!

I hope I help to provide one layer in the many layers of support for the patients, team and service. I hope that people trust this service, those above us and those we offer a service to, in part because it is led by people who really care about it, and I am one of those people, which makes me very proud.

I remember walking through the streets of Melbourne at 19 on a working visa, where I saw so many battling drug addiction. I remember thinking to myself what has happened to them to feel the need to enforce such self-harm? I returned to the UK with a profound interest in the psychology and bioscience underpinning mental health conditions and a vocation to help those struggling with them.

What I enjoy most about my job is the ability to help a patient through their darkest moments.

I truly believe that no kind act is ever too small. Slowly over time through small acts of kindness, this will create a memorable recovery for my patients.

I am a Community Mental Health Nurse and have been qualified since 2003.

I have worked at Forest Lodge low secure unit, been a care coordinator in the Continuing Needs Service then the Recovery team and now work in the Crisis Resolution Home Treatment Team.

I feel that the role of the nurse is a very personal thing to me and the team that I work with.

There is a great level of commitment within the team to support service users on their road through a crisis and back to their regular life.

I feel privileged to be a nurse and be part of a brilliant team, to be able to support someone at their worst points in their life and regularly find that, as a team, we reach that point.